Hiding in the Cupboard
by loveisforfairytales
Summary: He never could escape the cupboard. During OotP; Ignores HBP and DH. Warnings: character death and implied child abuse


**Summary: He never could escape the cupboard. During OotP; Ignores HBP and DH.**

**Warnings: character death and implied child abuse**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but I do own a time turner that I spin and pretend is real. **

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_Cold._

It is the first thing that registers in this dark place. Off in the distance she can see the tiny figure of a boy balled up on the ground, perfectly still, while dirt and dust falls from the ceiling at odd intervals with a _thud _onto familiar messy black hair. Bright, but chilled, emerald eyes stare forward; an expression of pure terror marrs his face.

She feels like she is suffocating, the darkness attacking her from all sides, pushing her down. _She has to get him out of here._

Getting closer she discovers a few more things; he looks smaller than the boy in papers, younger, and so much more vulnerable. There's nothing in this child that reminds her of James' arrogant smile or Lily's carefree laughter.

Slowly, small whimpers slip through his lips. _I'm a good boy, please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, stop please._

His words swirl around her head and try to knock her over. The darkness around her rumbles, eager to strike. She cannot waste anymore time.

"This isn't real, Harry."

Now he's staring through her at something she cannot see and silently screaming, _why can't you help me?_

And then it is too late to calm him down. She predicts everything will collapse around her in mere seconds and she has no choice.

_Stupefy_.

The world comes to a halting stop and she's violently ripped out.

She hits the white linoleum floor hard. Two pairs of eager (and one pair not so eager) eyes demand answers above her, but all she can do is glare.

_"What the bloody hell did you do to him?" _she rages before she can remember any sort of propriety. Dumbledore doesn't even flinch at her scathing words. He knows what he has done. The question is, does he regret it?

She's mourning the boy of just barely fifteen years lying on the white sterilized bed beside her because he might just be better off dead.

"You've broken him," she states simply when no one will answer her first question, "what kind of school do you run, where teachers will _attack_ a student?"

The dark-eyed figure flinches only slightly as she glares at him with pure loathing. Dumbledore opens his mouth to defend his colleague and his reputation when she turns back to him.

"What kind of _monsters_ did you leave him with for ten years?" Dumbledore's mouth promptly snaps shut. "I'm taking him with me, to St. Mungo's, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Now let's be reasonable, Healer Vance-" Dumbledore starts before being violently cut off.

"_Reasonable?"_ Emmeline shrieks with tears running down her face, "his mindscape wasn't nearly six years old! And I _stunned _him. Do you know what that means?"

Dumbledore clearly did. Pomfrey and Snape clearly did not.

"He will never age mentally past the age of six. Never," she whispers and maybe for the first time she sees his regret (for what we'll never know).

She leaves with the tiny sleeping boy and no one stops her. All the students have been confined to their dorms. She passes the gaping hole originating 4 floors below in the potions lab where her young charge finally snapped.

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On the sixteenth anniversary of his parents' death Voldemort finds him. The Dark Lord pays no attention to the plate of spaghetti spilling on the carpet as the woman crumples to the ground. With a flick of his wand and a bright green light, the last barrier between him and his greatest enemy dies.

"Aunt Emmy?" a childish voice echoes, "I want pasta!"

The walls are covered in hundreds of painstakingly drawn child sketches and smiling pictures of a boy who grew, but can never grow up. The baby griffin bedspread is charmed to fit the king size bed of an overgrown child.

The slight stubble on his cheek contrasts with the wonder and eagerness in his eyes.

Perhaps Voldemort feels pity for his once greatest enemy when he leaves the empty corpse lying behind closed doors.

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**The portrayal of Occlumency here is mostly what I think it is based on the numerous fanfictions I've read and my own interpretations. Hopefully this wasn't too confusing. This is a potential scene that occurs after one of Harry's Occlumency lessons with Snape gone wrong. I've also perhaps exaggerated a bit about Harry's home life, but I guess we never really see enough to say that for sure. **

**For those of you who don't remember, Emmeline Vance was a member of both the original Order of the Phoenix and the second Order of the Phoenix. She was a member of Harry's guard in OotP and died in 1996. The books never said what she did, so I made her a healer. :)**

**This has been the most wonderful distraction. Right now I'm avoiding making my TOK presentation and editing my english essay. You can make oh so happy by leaving a review. ****Bring light to sad thing that is known as my school life.**

**REVIEWS ARE BETTER THAN BEING MAGICAL! (if only because being magical isn't really possible except in my dreams) **


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